PODCAST
All the Words
October 25, 2026 | Brandon CooperBrandon discusses true obedience to God is not just about hearing His Word but actually living it out. Joshua 8 shows us what happens when God’s people choose to trust and follow Him completely, and the results are remarkable. God reassures His people with the words ‘Do not be afraid,’ grounding their confidence not in their own strength but in their restored relationship with Him. He does not waste our past failures but redeems them, using them as instruments of future victory. The severity of judgment in this chapter points us to the seriousness of sin and ultimately to the cross, where Christ took the curse we deserved so that we could be welcomed as God’s beloved children. Covenant obedience matters more than any earthly conquest, and our motivation to obey flows from what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ.
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TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Go ahead, grab your Bibles and open up to Joshua chapter eight, Joshua chapter eight, as we continue in our series. Now, as you’re turning there, I have a clear memory from my upper elementary years. We were given an assignment to complete right there in class.
And it was a lengthy list of instructions. So we were supposed to, you know, step one, read all the instructions carefully. Step two, you know, put your name, blue or black ink, in the upper right hand corner. You know, step three, draw a circle in the middle of the page. Step four, put a triangle in the middle of the circle.
You know, step 37, write the name of your favorite movie upside down in hieroglyphics. You know, it was like getting more and more complicated, and I’m furiously trying to finish it all and that kind of stuff. And then you get to the Last Step, Step 50, or whatever it was, and it says, just complete steps one and two.
And you remember that step one was read all the instructions carefully. And I am a man of action. I don’t have time to read things. We go, we do, otherwise I got to do it twice, and all of that. And so there was a life lesson, of course, that was baked into this.
It worked. I still don’t read the instructions, but at least I remember the life less, which is that life works better when you follow instructions all the way. Many of us have learned that lesson again when trying to assemble IKEA furniture, keeping up routine maintenance on our cars and houses, finances, whatever it may be. But it’s especially true when it comes to God’s instructions. And so this week in chapter eight, we really are getting the flip side of last week’s coin, because last week, Achan didn’t follow God’s instructions, and it went badly for him and for the community of which he was part.
So there’s this question hanging over this. What about Joshua? What about the rest of Israel? Will they follow God’s instructions? With that question hanging over this passage, it’s no surprise that God’s Word figures prominently in it.
We’re being asked, we’re watching as they’re being asked, will you listen to God’s Word or not? Joshua, Israel, will we listen to God’s Word carefully or not? Erica, read for us earlier the opening verse of Psalm 112. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who, who find great delight in his commands. Right?
Not even just dutiful obedience, but delight. I want to do God’s Word. In many ways, that is the big idea for us today, the blessing that comes from that sort of delight. In carrying out God’s commands. I’ve rephrased it slightly for us, but our big idea.
I’ll give it to you up front so we can track with it as we go through the passage. Our big idea is this. Listen to God’s word and then live it. Listen to God’s word and then live it. We’re going to see that as we unpack these three scenes.
The first two dealing with the conquest of AI. And then the last scene, we move slightly. We’ll see when we get there. So let’s start with scene one, though. Chapter eight, verses one to 17.
The trap set. Scene one. The trap set. Eight one to 17. Let me read it for us.
Then the Lord said to Joshua, do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you and go up and attack AI. For I have delivered into your hands the king of AI his people, his city and his land. You shall do to AI and its kings as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves.
Set an ambush behind the city. So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack AI. He chose 30,000 of his best fighting men and sent them out at night with these. Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city.
Don’t get very far from it. All of you be on the alert. I and all those with me will advance on the city. And when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city.
For they will say they are running away from us as they did before. So when we flee from them, you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded.
See to it you have my orders. Then Joshua sent them off and went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and AI to the west of AI. But Joshua spent that night with the people. Early the next morning, Joshua mustered his army. And he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to AI.
The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of AI with the valley between them and the city. Joshua had taken about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and AI to the west of the city. So the soldiers took up their positions with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it that night, Joshua went into the valley. When the king of AI saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah.
But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. All the men of AI were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. Not a man remained in AI or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
We ended last week with this line.
The Lord turned from his fierce anger. Chapter 7, verse 26. The Lord turned from his fierce anger. And that’s really what Israel needed to know so that they wouldn’t be afraid, because the Lord was angry with them because of Achan’s sin. And so they were defeated when they went up against AI the first time.
You understand there’d be some trepidation this time around. But no. God assures Joshua that they can do what God calls them to do without fear or discouragement, because their relationship has been restored, because they’ve experienced atonement for Achan’s sin. Atonement just meaning at one mint. They’ve been brought back together again.
Peace between God and Israel has been restored. God has forgiven their sin. And so there is no doubt about the outcome. Now God says it to Joshua in verse one. I have delivered I into your hands.
Perfect tense. It’s done, it’s over. I know the battle hasn’t been fought yet. I already delivered AI into your hands. He said something like this prior to Jericho as well.
But interestingly, last week, when they went up against I the first time, we didn’t hear this, in part because Joshua and the other leaders didn’t consult God. So this is good. We’re back now in a Jericho situation, it’s as good as done, although that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing for them to do. We see here in this text the delicate balance between divine sovereignty and human responsibility that we see throughout Scripture. God says, I have delivered I into your hands.
You shall do to I all that I’ve commanded you. And so there’s the reminder that God works his unfailing purposes through his people. We see this all over the place. It’s actually an encouragement to us to do what God has given us to do. And we know that he stands behind it and is accomplishing it through us.
I mean, how much encouragement do you think Paul took when the Lord reminded him, I have lots of people in this city still, so that Paul would go, oh, then I can keep evangelizing here. I don’t need to get discouraged because I know God is going to be saving people through this ministry. Paul says to the Colossian Church, to this end, I strenuously contend, that’s effort, that’s hard work. I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. Like that’s the balance that we’re talking about.
So, yes, we act, but because God is working through us, we’re called to lay hold of what God freely gives us, to participate in our growth and his work, which of course is a good word for us. Again, as we are stepping out, venturing out in faith to plant this church going, we have work to do. And we do so with the knowledge that Jesus Christ said, I will build my church. Now we’re not building his church, but we get to build in his kingdom under his authority. So we are in a situation just like Jericho.
This is clearly God’s victory because he is the one who delivers AI into their hands. Clearly God’s victory. But just like Israel had to march and shout, this time they’re going to have some stuff to do as well. In fact, there’s only one real difference between Jericho and AI and the difference is this time around they get to keep some of the plunder. And that is a difference.
It’s such a sad moment to come across this in the text in light of what we learned last week in chapter seven. I read this, and I think, if only Achan had trusted God to provide. Like how needless was his covetousness in light of God’s goodness and generosity. But that was the original sin, the first temptation on display. What does Satan say to Adam and Eve in the garden?
In effect, he says, you know, God’s holding out on you, right? There’s goodness out there that he’s not giving you. That’s serpent theology right there. God is holding out on you. Can I tell you, church, he never is.
God is never holding out on us. He delights to bless those who fear him, and he promises to provide. And he does so when we keep his commands. In fact, when we look at giving in particular and covetousness in Scripture, we are commanded to give our first fruits. That’s what Jericho was, was the first fruits of the conquest.
And so God’s saying, the first fruits belong to me because it’s this expression of trust and it’s the expression of trust when it’s hardest. Israel’s been wandering around in the desert for 40 years. They have not been earning a paycheck in that time. And so there’s all this money, all this livestock before them, and they’re going, here it is at last. And the Lord says, yes, give that part to me.
Much like the first fruits in an agrarian society, when you’re depending on the harvest for your food, your daily bread, you can imagine how tough it would be. Like, stores are running low in your house, in your pantry, whatever it is. And you’re looking and you’re going, at last, at last, it’s coming up. We’re gonna get to eat. And God says, give that to me.
That’s the stuff you give to me. Because that’s our trust. We’re going. Cause I know, I know where it actually comes from. It comes from God.
So it’s a hard but necessary command to remember our provider and express our trust. That’s why even today, I hope at least we give right away like we give the first bit of our paycheck. I have this literally, in my case, I don’t know how it works for you. I know some of us paid weekly every two weeks. Every month.
I’m paid on the 12th of every month. The first withdrawal from my account is on the 15th, a couple days, just in case something gets messed up or whatever. And first one that comes out comes out automatically. I grant that. But I see the notification every time.
You know why it’s set up like that? Because I know myself. Finances are tight in the Cooper household. And so if I waited to the end of the month to see what’s left to give God, I’d be given less. Or at least I would be tempted to give less.
And so we give the first part when it’s hardest because we trust God. What Achan didn’t do then, after all that, we get, almost as an afterthought, the very end of verse 2. Set an ambush behind the city. Now, we know there’s more to this because Joshua explains more of it. But what’s clear here is the ambush is God’s plan.
Because it’s God’s plan. It will be God’s praise when it works. As we keep reading, we see the plan in detail. And I find this fascinating, that God’s plan. He has Israel mimic their earlier failure when they fled from AI last time because the Lord had not given the city into their hands.
There’s such grace in this, isn’t there? I mean God subjugates even our sin to serve his good purposes. I’m reminded of the line in the prophet Joel when he says he restores the years the locusts have eaten. Like that’s what the Lord is doing here. You messed up last time.
You ran away. I’m going to use that to bring about the victory this time. Now, how exactly does this happen? I just got to tell you, we’re not going to get into all the weeds on this. The Hebrew is really confusing in this whole story.
A couple different parts. We got some flashbacks, but it doesn’t, like, clearly state that it’s a flashback. And then we got. If you were reading it this week, maybe you were wondering, how big was the ambush force? Because it says at first it’s 30,000, and then it says it’s 5,000.
You want to kind of go, which one is it? And I’m not really sure here. It seems to me that Joshua, he pulls 30,000 out to be his attacking force, and then he explains the plan to that whole 30,000, and then it’s the 5,000 in verse 12 that are set aside as the ambush force. Could be wrong. As I said, it’s confusing.
What’s not confusing is what Joshua is doing and why he is listening to God’s word and then living in light of it. In verse eight, he says to his commanders, do what the Lord has commanded. See to it. Carry out God’s plan with absolute faithfulness. The lesson of last week has been learned.
They are not going to skimp on obedience or presume on grace or rely on self. They’re going to do what God says. God’s plan works. Big surprise. I’m as shocked as anyone, right?
The omniscient God knew what to do right here. So verse 14, the king of AI saw what God and his servant Joshua wanted him to see. They see they’re fleeing again. And so all the men of AI and Bethel, interestingly, because we haven’t heard anything about Bethel, what’s Bethel doing here? At this point, Most likely what we have here is AI is a little bit like Jericho.
It is a fortress. It’s an outpost for a garrison protecting the region where Bethel would be the main city. So Bethel’s the population center. AI is the fortress, which is probably why AI is destroyed and Bethel is not. But all the men of AI and Bethel hurry out for battle.
They are so eager to attack Israel that they forget to defend. So it says in verse 17, they left the city open. The Hebrew reads, literally, they forsook the city, which seems like a bad idea. They failed in their primary duty. The trap has been set and is ready to be sprung.
And that is scene two the battle won. Let me keep reading. Verses 18 to 29. Then the Lord said to Joshua, hold out toward AI the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city. So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand.
As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire. The men of AI looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky. But they had no chance to escape in any direction. The Israelites, who had been fleeing toward the wilderness, had turned back against their pursuers.
For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of AI. Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. They took the king of AI alive and brought him to Joshua. When Israel had finished killing all the men of AI in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to AI and killed those who were in it.
12,000 men and women fell that day. All the people of AI, for Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in AI. But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua. So Joshua burned AI and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. He impaled the body of the king of AI on a pole and left it there until evening sunset.
Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down the entrance to the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day. You’ll notice that the battle here is won the same way it was won at the Red Sea. Almost identical phrases in fact. God says to Moses, Exodus 14, verse 16, raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water.
The only real difference between the accounts is what is held out. Is it a staff or a javelin or maybe short sword? Moses holds up a staff. Because Moses shepherds in the wilderness, whereas Joshua leads in battle. So he holds up a weapon.
They have different roles, different tools, but the point of connection is the important point. God parted the Red Sea. Then God delivers I now into the hands of Joshua in the army. Meaning it’s an equally miraculous victory. The victory belongs to God and God alone.
It is all owing to his power, which means the praise is his and his alone, which is true in our lives too, especially when it comes to our salvation, our transformation. And so we give him all the glory. But how do we know that it’s God’s and God’s alone, the victory and the praise? Well, it’s God’s Word that directed all that happens. It’s his plan.
We saw that verses two and eight, and then even at the end of verse 27, we get it again. All this was done as the Lord instructed Joshua. So it’s God’s word that’s responsible for it. And Joshua’s success is owing entirely to his obedience to the Word in light of faith. God says, hold the javelin out.
Joshua holds the javelin out. Like that’s the connection. That’s all Joshua’s doing is obeying God’s word. Now, like Jericho, the destruction is complete other than the plunder. We talked about that.
They get to keep the plunder this time. All that raises some questions. When we read stories of God’s people putting a whole populace to the sword, it raises questions. We covered those. We did those questions two weeks ago.
Joshua 6, Jericho, you weren’t here. Go back and listen. So important for us to understand this. Certainly if you have questions as a skeptic, you’re going, see, this is why I don’t think I like Christianity. Definitely go back and listen.
But even if you’re here going, no, no, I like Christianity, I trust the Bible, I’m sure God had good reasons. Go back and listen. Why? Because we all need to be able to explain this to people who are going to have questions. We want to be able to provide honest answers to honest questions.
And so we need to know what God is up to here. So a lot of this is overlap questions we’ve already asked and answered, but there is an added bit this time, and let’s dig in here. Because Joshua impales the king of AI on a pole and leaves him hanging until sundown before burying him. And we read this today and we cringe at the barbarism of this moment. Before we judge these barbarians too harshly, it is probably worth remembering that our day and age has the corner on barbarism by a wide margin.
You look at the last hundred Years or so, you would see that humanity has not improved. We are the same underneath. But still, the question is, why? Like, why does Joshua impale the king on a pole? It is a vivid picture of God’s solemn and just judgment.
When this happens, however it happens, it is meant to warn others of the consequences of rebellion. This is a common practice in the ancient Near East. The common practice until, frankly, pretty recently. You look at, like the wars of the Roses or something. You get Edward of York’s head on a pole outside of York as a reminder.
This is what happens to treason, to traitors. So it’s meant to warn others of the consequences of rebellion. That seems to be the idea when we read about it in Deuteronomy 21. This is God’s law about hanging people on poles. If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, you notice it’s not commanded, but it’s saying, if you’re going to do this, you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight.
Be sure to bury it that same day. Because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse now. They’re not cursed because they’re hung on a tree. They’re hung on a tree to show that they are accursed of God under God’s judgment, without hope. It is undoubtedly gruesome, but in light of all that we know about humanity, and indeed even our own sinful hearts, we can understand why God must go to such lengths to get our attention.
This is the seriousness of our. And most of us don’t recognize it because our consciences are seared and our hearts are calloused through sin. Like, even now, I would say there is a good chance that we are not connecting the dots between a guy killed 3500 years ago and us here in this room today. Do you see? This is what you deserve because of your rebellion against God.
Apart from Christ, this is what you and I deserve. Judgment is rightly coming. It will be swift and terrible. There’s a famous prophecy in Isaiah, Jesus quotes at the start of his ministry, even saying, this is why I’m here, guys. It begins like this.
The spirit of the Lord is on me to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. We know that part. Do you know the next part? The day of vengeance of our God. The day of the Lord’s favor is also the day of vengeance of our God.
Because God cannot bring the fullness of his blessing until he has eradicated sin from this world. Cut it out like amputation. Later In Isaiah, Isaiah 63, we read this. Isaiah asked, who is this robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.
Why are your garments red like those of one treading the winepress? I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath. Their blood spattered my garments. I stained all my clothing. It was for me the day of vengeance.
The year for me to redeem had come. There it is again. I cannot redeem, restore the world until I remove evil. I trampled the nations in my anger, in my wrath, made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground, as we keep seeing, as we talked about two weeks ago, as we talked about in our series in Revelations, we talked about in our series people God killed. God must deal with evil finally, fully and forever for his new creation to come.
And so the execution of AI’s king, horrific as it is, reminds us the same destruction awaits all God’s enemies who remain under the curse. And at the same time, the execution of is king, horrific as it is, impels us to seek salvation. What must we do to escape such a terrible fate?
And the answer is, we need to answer the question Isaiah asked, who is this robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength, who is proclaiming victory, who is mighty to save? The conquering king of Isaiah 63 is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, who is pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds are we healed. The suffering servant who is then hong I on a tree until sundown, when his broken body is taken down, tossed on the ground, and covered not by a pile of rocks, but by a large stone. Why Galatians leaves us in no doubt that it is because of this right here Paul tells us, Galatians 3:13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
For it is written, curse is everyone who is hung on a pole. There is Jesus takes the curse of sin on himself and so is hung on a pole to show that he has been cursed by God in our place. What happened to our king should happen to all of us. What happened to eise king, right should happen to all of us. Instead it happened to the innocent, suffering servant to Jesus Christ.
He takes our place on the cross, on the pole under the curse, so that we can take his as dearly Beloved children, welcome at the table of God Almighty. That’s not only our salvation, which we sang of earlier. The Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Son. That our salvation is also our motivation.
Like that’s why we obey His Word, because that’s what makes us want to obey His Word. Don’t you want to listen to a God like this? A God who doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, but instead treats us as Christ’s perfect obedience deserves, on the basis of grace and faith alone. Like any command, no matter how hard it is, destroy the food even though you are hungry, having wandered in the desert, give the first fruits of your harvest. No matter how hard a command sounds, we obey it willingly, delight to keep his commands, because we know that God’s heart is good and all he ever wants for us is good.
Even now, in this moment, is there some obedience that you are holding back from God?
Maybe it’s the command to give sacrificially.
Maybe it’s the call to say goodbye to your friends here and go plant a church in Lombard as part of the planting team.
Maybe it’s to forgive someone who hurt you deeply. Maybe it’s to say no to some powerful desires in your life that you know are contrary to God’s will. You have a choice in that moment to go. I’m holding back on my obedience. And I can either doubt God’s goodness, listen to the serpent, and think he must be holding back on me.
That’s why he’s not letting me do what I want to do, or ask me to do what I don’t want to do. Or. Or. Or we can look at the cross of Jesus Christ, see how much God loves us, and say, why not rather trust him instead? Why not rather obey instead?
This whole story drips with the grace of God, his forgiveness after Achan’s sin, his provision, the rewards of obedience.
Sometimes we need to see and appreciate the horror of sin, to understand and delight in the wonders of grace. And really, that’s where the story goes next in our last scene, which has nothing whatsoever to do with I, at least at first glance. So the last scene. Scene three. The covenant renewed.
Let me read the rest of the chapter for us. Then Joshua built on Mount Abel an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel. As Moses the son, servant of the Lord, had commanded the Israelites. He built it, according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool had been used. On it, they offered to the Lord, burnt Offerings and sacrifice, fellowship offerings.
There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. All the Israelites with their elders, officials and judges were standing on both sides of the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Abel, as Moses, the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel. Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, just as it is written in the book of the Law.
There’s not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them. There’s like literary whiplash that’s happening here. We get no transition whatsoever. There’s no. And after this, they made the 20 mile trek to the Plain of Shechem, where Mount Abol is.
It’s just immediate. It’s like the news report. You’re watching your favorite TV show or something like that, and all of a sudden it says, we interrupt this regularly scheduled programming to bring you breaking news. And why do they do that? It’s because the breaking news is deemed important enough to warrant this violent interruption of your favorite TV show.
It’s the same idea here. This is more important than the victory at AI because covenant obedience matters more than military conquest. The spiritual takes precedence over the political. It’s actually interesting. This story doesn’t always show up here.
You look at different manuscripts, especially in different languages there, and it gets placed in different spots because it’s not chronologically related necessarily. Maybe it is, but maybe it isn’t. But it is thematically related. It makes perfect sense right here. That’s why God has it right here.
Because now is the moment when they need to renew their commitment to God. God’s people had violated his covenant, says that. Exactly. Chapter 7, verse 11, the people had violated the covenant. In chapter 7:15, it says, whoever it was that had kept what was devoted to God, turns out it was Achan.
We know that now. Had violated covenant. They’d committed spiritual adultery. So here’s the moment right after the knowledge of the affair comes to light, and you’ve got that choice as the wrong spouse going, is this it? Is this rupture irrevocable?
Am I out of here? Or will there be restoration and reconciliation? In which case there will need to be a renewed commitment. So God’s people renew their covenant commitment as they remember his covenant commitment. God covenanted with his people, knowing full well that they would be prone to wander, that we would be prone to wander.
And he still chose to covenant with them again. That should make us want to covenant with him, to commit to him and to obey Him. There’s so much going on in this covenant renewal ceremony, though. Pay close attention to the order, especially although the obedience is there as well. Did you notice once again, he did everything just like it said in the book of Moses.
There’s an altar of uncut stones. No iron tool been used. We’re following God’s word still. But let’s look at the order of how this little scene unfolds. First, they build an altar.
This would take us all the way back to Genesis. It would be like Abraham when he first received the covenant promise. He builds an altar there before the Lord, prophetically laying claim to the land, right? He’s building an altar because he’s saying, this is Yahweh’s land, this is Yahweh’s territory. And so by building an altar now in this place after the entrance, the initial conquest, Joshua is showing God kept his promises.
The promises are fulfilled. This is the Yahweh’s land, belongs to the Lord. They also build an altar because they need an altar to make sacrifices. It’s interesting. They build this altar right where earlier Moses had proclaimed the curses back in Deuteronomy 28.
The whole reason they need an altar. We’re proclaiming the curses because it’s going, look, if you break the covenant, bad things happen. You will be cursed.
Like, we’re going to need some help here. We need some forgiveness. We’re going to need some atonement. And so is it any surprise that first they offer burnt offerings? The burnt offering is the sacrifice for sin.
It’s how you make atonement for sin. Which of course, they needed to do in light of Achan. Like, we need to deal with the wrath of God first to have that dealt with, to experience forgiveness. And only then do they offer the fellowship offerings which celebrate the restored relationship between God and his people. Sometimes even called the peace offering, which celebrates the peace between God and his people.
Then Moses write, or Moses. Then Joshua writes the law copied directly from Moses tablets.
Now, this is another physical sign. We’ve had some physical signs already. We had the physical sign when they piled up the 12 stones when they crossed the Jordan River. We got a pile of stones over Achan’s body. We got a pile of stones over the king of AI’s body now.
So we’ve got all these signs of what God is doing. Here is another physical sign. And this sign is signifying. This is a people under God’s word as they take possession of the land. They need to remember that these are the terms for enjoying the possession of the land.
In fact, one of the curses we read about in Deuteronomy 28, which Israel will eventually experience because of their disobedience, because they don’t live under God’s word. One of the curses is, you don’t get to be in the land anymore. The exile. That’s where this story goes. These are the terms for living in the land.
And then Joshua reads that law reads the Word to the people. We have a strong emphasis here on him reading all of the words to all of the people. Actually, our sermon title for today, which is all the words, it works together with the series title. Because of this moment right here, our series title, that all might know all the words, like, that’s what’s happening in this moment. And I love it because Joshua is embodying God’s Word to him.
All the way back in chapter one, verse eight, when God says, keep the book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night. Well, here we see the book of law did not depart from his mouth, but he reads every word of it to his people, and he reads it to all the people. It’s not a closed system. All are invited to hear God’s Word and respond to it in repentance and faith.
Like Rahab, who is there hearing God’s Word in this moment, it actually highlights the foreigners as well. If you were here back in our Exodus series, you may remember that some foreigners left Egypt and traveled with Israel. Even at that moment, all nations were preaching present in the people of God. And so they’re hearing it. Membership in God’s covenant people is not by an accident of birth, but by an application of faith, by grace, through faith.
And that is a word for you. If you are a skeptic seeker still questioning Christianity. You got the first part of this bargain because you heard God’s Word. You even if this is your first time you’ve ever sat in church before in your life. I read God’s Word for you.
You heard God’s Word, and so now it’s your turn. I did my part. Your time for you to do your part. It is time to respond in faith, to confess sin, to receive Grace and to walk in obedience to God’s word in light of. Not in order to win, but in light of the restored relationship you now have with God on the basis of grace through faith.
I hope you can see as we’ve gone through this, there’s a single thread that holds the whole chapter together. Listen to God’s Word and then live it. Faith manifesting in obedience.
We started with Psalm 112:1. Here’s Psalm 128:1. Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him, almost identical to 1:12:1, where it would take great delight in his commands. These words in Psalms, this story in Joshua is every bit as relevant for us today as it was for them then. Because you and I are just as likely, just as tempted to.
To listen to self instead of God’s word, to listen to ourselves for strategies. How are we going to defeat this city? And for our sinful desires. I’d love some of that silver and that nice Babylonian robe. And so we must choose daily, momently, even, to listen to God instead, as we’ve already talked about.
Why wouldn’t we choose that in light of the Gospel, we listen to God instead as an expression of complete dependence and obedience. We need to renew our commitment, moment by moment, to the new covenant. We belong to God. We are under his authority. Paul tells us, 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20 do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. Everything we do, we do for the Lord. We are his.
Twice over. He made us so we belong to Him. And then he purchased us from sin at the cost of the blood of His Son. So we belong to him again if we are redeemed. Jesus said it so starkly.
You are my friends if you do what I command. Again, it’s not that we obey his commands. And then he’s like, I’ll be friends with you. We prove that we belong to him, that we are his friends by our obedience. Are you his friends?
Then do what he commands.
Delight to do it, knowing that it’s for your good. And so even now, in the quiet of your own heart, would you examine yourselves? Is there any command of God that you know you are flouting? Doing what you know you shouldn’t do, not doing what you know you should do, like Achan, doubting God’s goodness now, even now, choose obedience. Take some small step today before you Leave to exercise obedience is muscle.
There are words of an old song that we regrettably don’t sing here. Some of you will know it well. It really sums up the sermon and this chapter. We never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay for the favor he shows, for the joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey. Population over a certain age that had that.
And the rest of you are like, wow, I never heard that one before. Sounds good. You should learn the old songs too. Joy he bestows, the favor he shows all that is for them who will trust and obey, for them who will listen to his Word and then live it. Let’s pray.
God, we pray that you would work in us by your spirit, a delight to not only hear your word, but to do it, to put it into practice. God, would you increase our trust and thus increase our obedience to your Word? Would you do so? Especially when we look at the cross of Christ, when we see Jesus taking the curse of our sin on himself, hanging on that pole for our sake, for our salvation. We see your love and mercy and wisdom and grace and goodness.
In that moment. May it cause us to want to keep every one of your commands. Because we know that the King who commands it and delight to bring him delight, to bring you delight by our obedience. We pray this in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.